Parkside receives Paper Pack of the Year award

Parkside has been celebrating after its innovative paper flow wrap developed for luxury chocolate brand Cox & Co’s Farm to Bar Cacao earned Gold award recognition in the Paper Pack of the Year category at The Grocer's New Product & Packaging Awards 2024.

The award recognises the collaboration between Parkside and Cox & Co to create a fully recyclable paper-based flow wrap for the brand's premium single-origin chocolate bars. The packaging combines high-barrier performance with integration into Cox & Co’s existing hot-seal flow wrapping equipment, while enabling simple kerbside recycling for consumers.

Made using FSC-approved virgin paper that can be recycled up to 40 times, the innovative wrapper incorporates specialized water-based barrier coatings that provide robust protection against moisture and oxygen without compromising recyclability.

Staci Bye, sales account manager at Parkside, commented: ‘We're thrilled to see our collaborative work with Cox & Co recognized with this prestigious award. This project perfectly demonstrates why ‘paperisation’ is becoming such a key priority and how innovative paper-based solutions can meet complex technical requirements while advancing sustainability goals.

‘By combining our material expertise with Cox & Co's vision, we've created packaging that delivers on performance, functionality and environmental responsibility. What’s more, it carries the brand’s rustic premium aesthetic, so it’s also a head-turner on the shelf.’

The development process spanned 18 months as Parkside's technical team worked to create a packaging that would maintain product freshness and run efficiently on existing packaging equipment. The resulting innovation has helped Cox & Co phase out its incumbent wood pulp-based home compostable packaging in favor of domestic recyclability while maintaining the premium quality their customers expect.

‘This award validates our ongoing investment in sustainable packaging development and is a powerful testament to our team,’ added Bye. ‘As brands increasingly prioritise material circularity, we're proud to demonstrate that paper-based solutions, like the kind we’re developing at Parkside, can meet even the most challenging packaging requirements without compromise.’